Domestic violence advocates and attorneys say ongoing vacancies at the Domestic Violence Action Center contribute to the state’s lack of affordable legal services for survivors.
The state’s largest domestic violence organization has not been able to replace its legal staff since all of its attorneys quit last year, leaving domestic violence victims in Hawaiʻi with fewer options for low-cost representation.
But domestic violence advocates agree that even before the lawyers left the Domestic Violence Action Center — which offers legal services on a sliding scale along with social services and advocacy — there was a major need for more legal aid for victims in Hawaiʻi.
Thousands of domestic violence cases are filed in court each year while the Domestic Violence Action Center reports opening fewer than 200 cases annually. A report published last year by the Hawaiʻi State Coalition Against Domestic Violence listed legal services as one of the top three unmet needs of victims.
“Legal services are the least robust part of the continuum of services for survivors,” said Nanci Kreidman, the center’s founder and former CEO. “There’s only DVAC on Oʻahu and there are no community-based organizations like (it) on the neighbor islands.”
The center had six attorneys when it was fully staffed and now has two. Attorneys are difficult to recruit because the work is emotionally draining and they can make more money in private practice. But negative press about the agency in the wake of the attorneys quitting hasn’t helped, Kreidman said.
The former attorneys said they felt undermined by non-attorney advocates who interfered in their cases and gave unauthorized legal advice to their clients. They accused the current CEO Monique Ibarra of doing nothing to address their concerns, and then started to resign one by one until, by March 2024, no attorneys were left.
Ibarra at the time denied advocates were giving legal advice, and she couldn’t be reached for comment for this story.
Attorney Emily Dresslar left the center last February after she said the CEO interfered in a divorce case she was handling. Now, Dresslar is rallying her former colleagues into a new nonprofit she believes can better represent survivors.
She is concerned that the Domestic Violence Action Center continues to receive so much funding through grants and state contracts even though it lacks a full staff of attorneys. The Judiciary recently renewed a two-year, $2.7-million contract with the center to provide legal representation, hotline services and advocacy
“When we left DVAC we didn’t quit, we regrouped,” Dresslar said. Without a fully-staffed law firm dedicated to domestic violence victims, “they’re at a significant disadvantage, so we’re trying to balance the scales of justice.”
Six attorneys quit the center last year after accusing Ibarra and other staff members of engaging in the “unauthorized practice of law.” They said they were frustrated by advocates giving their clients legal advice when only attorneys are allowed to do so, according to rules of professional conduct published by the American Bar Association.
Ibarra denied this at the time and said that while advocates offered their professional perspectives to help survivors, only attorneys gave legal advice. Kreidman agreed with that assessment in a recent phone interview.
“Our staff have training and supervision around the appropriate boundaries and the unauthorized practice of law, so I don’t see what (the former attorneys) are talking about exactly,” she said.
Kreidman said interviews the attorneys gave to Civil Beat and other media organizations at the time they quit damaged the reputation of the organization and has made it even harder to hire new attorneys.
“I don’t think that’s any way to serve the community by maligning the organization,” Kreidman said. “If they want to serve survivors, there’s plenty of survivors who need help.”
The former staff attorneys say their goal isn’t to take down the center but to provide legal services alongside the advocacy work being done there.
“We want what DVAC wants,” said Tony Donnes, who quit the organization in October 2023. “We want to help survivors, that’s what it’s about. It’s just that attorneys need autonomy, they need independence.”
Madeleine Hill, a spokeswoman with a public relations firm representing the Domestic Violence Action Center, wrote in an email that in addition to the center’s two staff attorneys it is contracting with three private attorneys whose contracts each last one year.
Since July 1, 2024, attorneys have opened 70 temporary restraining order cases and 27 divorce and paternity cases. The center also refers some clients to the Legal Aid Society of Hawaiʻi, Volunteer Legal Services and other pro bono attorneys.
“DVAC is fully operational,” Hill wrote. “Our legal services, advocacy programs, housing support, helpline, and other programs actively provide support to dozens of domestic violence survivors every day.”
She said Ibarra was unavailable for comment.
In quarterly reports filed with the Judiciary last year, the center cited recruiting and hiring attorneys as an ongoing challenge.
“Factors such as limited funding, job-specific challenges — the emotional intensity of the work leading to burnout, and the need for specialized skills create add significant barriers in hiring and retaining staffing,” one report says.
Theresa Cachuela, a 33-year-old mother killed by her estranged husband in ʻAiea in December 2023, could not afford to have a lawyer representing her when she petitioned for a temporary restraining order against him just two weeks before her death.
Her husband, Jason Cachuela, had hired a prominent private lawyer, Michael Green. Theresa’s restraining order was granted but her mother, Lucita Ani-Nihoa, said the process of going through court was overwhelming without legal representation.
Her daughter did work with an advocate from the Domestic Violence Action Center, but advocates cannot speak in court or present evidence.
“There’s really no help,” Ani-Nihoa told Civil Beat. “The advocate can’t do anything but sit there.”
In Oʻahu’s First Circuit Court alone, 2,713 domestic abuse protection orders and 1,415 temporary restraining orders were filed in fiscal year 2023. Statewide, those numbers were double.
During that same year, the Domestic Violence Action Center reported opening 180 cases and closing 167, including for divorce, restraining orders, paternity and what’s known as post-decree matters — legal issues that arise after a divorce or separation.
The gap between the numbers suggests that a majority of those petitioning for restraining orders and protective orders are representing themselves or getting legal help elsewhere.
The only other agency providing legal services for low-income people in the state is the Legal Aid Society of Hawaiʻi, which assists with all civil legal matters, not just domestic-violence related cases, at no cost to those with incomes low enough to qualify.
Angela Lovitt, deputy director of that organization, said she did not know how many domestic violence cases her agency handles each year. She said it represents 1,200 to 1,500 people annually who identify as victims of domestic abuse, although their cases could be related to other things such as immigration or housing.
And while some victims of domestic violence may choose to pay for a private attorney, data shows the majority of domestic violence victims in the state are poor. According to the Hawaiʻi State Coalition on Domestic Violence, more than a third of those experiencing domestic abuse earn less than $50,000 a year.
Any victim forced to represent him or herself is more likely to have a worse outcome in court, especially if the abuser can afford private counsel, said Angelina Mercado, executive director of the Hawaiʻi State Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Some victims who can’t pay for an attorney may choose to not pursue legal action at all.
“The idea of not being able to afford an attorney leaves you feeling powerless and without options,” she said.
Christine Fliniau is director of East Hawaiʻi programs for the nonprofit Child & Family Service, which operates domestic violence shelters on Oʻahu and the Big Island and has programs in Hilo and Kona that provide in-house assistance with temporary restraining orders. Fliniau and other advocates on neighbor islands are particularly frustrated by the lack of affordable legal help for their clients.
Her shelter refers up to 10 victims each month to Legal Aid, but she has heard that only a small fraction actually get help.
“The person answering the phone has told our survivors that they don’t have (domestic violence) knowledge and they’re not able to transfer the caller to someone who could help,” she said.
Lovitt said all intake staff is trained in domestic abuse matters, and at least 10 attorneys dedicate a “significant portion” of their practice to victims.
“Unfortunately, we are not funded sufficiently to provide full representation in court for all who seek services, which is why we believe there needs to be orders of magnitude more available funding for legal services, including for survivors,” she said.
Dresslar, who is applying for a grant from the Hawaiʻi Justice Foundation to fund her Women’s Law Center, said she hopes all of the organizations doing this work can get the resources they need.
“We’re all committed to helping survivors,” she said. “I don’t know with the funding landscape what’s going to happen to all these nonprofits, but it is my sincere hope that we all continue.”
Read more on Honolulu Civil Beat
